Biblical Logos Blog

In Genesis 12 and 15 we have the passages that define the Abrahamic Covenant. Let’s see what God promised Abraham.

Gen 12:1-3  Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 
I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 

Gen 15:1  After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 

Gen 15:5-7  And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”  And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. And he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 

Gen 15:18-21  On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,  the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” 

God’s promise to Abraham and his heirs is that the land of Israel would be theirs and that his descendants would be too numerable to count! He also said the whole world would be blessed through Abraham.

Now let’s take a closer look at how the Covenant was sealed.

Gen 15:8-17  But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”  He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.  And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 
As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.  But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.  As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.  And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”  When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 

The passing between the sacrificed animals was part of the cultural norm back then. It symbolized that if the covenant was broken, the person who broke it would have the same fate as the animals. God used what Abraham understood, yet he presented himself as a “smoking firepot and flaming torch”. What could that mean?

In an interesting article by Never Thirsty Ministries, different scholars commentaries on Genesis 15:17-21 are compared. Their conclusion is that the flaming torch is the same type of symbolism as when God appeared as the “pillar of fire” during the Exodus. The smoking pot however had much more debate. There didn’t seem to be a clear other use of this symbolism in the Bible. The context of the passage however gives us some clues. The proceeding verse is describing a time when Abraham’s descendants would be in a foreign land for 400 years as slaves. They would be in affliction until the sin of the Amorites had come to completion. They conclude the meaning this way:

First, the immediate context is the prophecy about Israel’s future captivity and slavery in Egypt for four hundred years (v. 13-15). Since Deuteronomy 4:20; 1 Kings 8:51 and Jeremiah 11:4 all refer to Egypt as an “iron furnace,” it seems that the smoking oven is an illusion to Israel’s slavery in Egypt.

But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today. Deuteronomy 4:20 (NASB)

The second reason a modified version of A. C. Gaebelein’s view is best is that the Hebrew words for “iron furnace” and “smoking oven” or “firepot” are different. They are different 1) because the smoking oven was portable and 2) it symbolized God bringing Israel through Egypt to the Promised Land (v. 18-21). That is, Abram’s vision pictured Israel passing between the animal pieces. God would help Israel pass through the suffering of slavery to obtain the Promised Land. Zechariah 12:6 is a parallel verse. It describes God’s judgment on Israel’s enemies during the tribulation. That is, Israel will suffer in the tribulation and near the end God will make Israel as a firepot and a flaming torch. When the verse refers to Judah being like a firepot and a flaming torch, it is God unilaterally and independently enabling Israel to defeat its enemies.

The firepot / smoking oven then is a picture of Israel in affliction. The symbolism pictured affliction they would endure in Egypt leading to the Exodus with Moses. As the article conclusion pointed also to Zechariah 12:6, let’s look at what happens next.

Zec 12:6-10  “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem. “And the LORD will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. On that day the LORD will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, going before them.  And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 

So I believe Abraham’s vision of the flaming torch and smoking firepot was God carrying Israel through affliction only to preserve them to inherit and enjoy the promises made to Abraham. We see here in Zechariah, that similar imagery is used, but this time it is Israel who creates the affliction on their enemies. What apparently made the difference between being afflicted and becoming the avenger?

Zec 12:10  “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 

The gospel will be accepted by the Israelites! Then we see what will happen next:

Mat 23:37-39  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!  See, your house is left to you desolate.  For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”